Secaucus mayor says he's confident Winter Blast will go off without a hitch

Buchmuller Park in Secaucus is being transformed into the site of a Super Bowl party the likes of which the town may have never seen.

The park is the site of a three-day jubilee called the Winter Blast which begins today at 4 p.m. and runs until Saturday, after which East Rutherford will take over on game day with its Meadowlands Tailgate Party.

Yesterday, the park was scattered with construction materials and workers steadily assembling shelters and the foundations of some of the event’s attractions.

Mayor Michael Gonnelli, who was at the park overlooking the progress, said he is sure that the construction for the festival would go off without a hitch, although many of the attractions and materials, such as a lifesize snow globe and food trucks, would be arriving today.

“I’m so happy and I’m so confident that everything’s going to get done, and I’m so happy that there’s still snow on the ground because it’s called the Winter Blast,” he said.

Several signs directing guests, promoting sponsors and advertising the festival were already in place, and POD storage units, which Gonnelli said will serve as huts for vendors to sell their goods, lined the walkways of the park.

Most of the workers were assembling the tents for the celebration’s beer garden as delivery drivers journeyed back and forth to their trucks.

A realistic dinosaur replica for The Field Station Dinosaur Exhibit was also already in place on the park’s baseball field, which Gonnelli was proud to say would be making lifelike movements to delight the children in attendance.

Meanwhile, Rutherford has canceled the Winter Festival scheduled for Saturday.

The council voted Tuesday to cancel the event after learning organizers had not obtained enough sponsorship money, the South Bergenite reported.

Robin Reenstra-Bryant, a contracted event planner, could only secure $2,000 in sponsorships. Before the council canceled, the borough had already spent $9,300 on advertising and $7,000 to Reenstra-Bryant’s fee.

The event was to include ice skating, bands, a beer tent and children’s activities. But just four days before the event, a contract hadn’t been signed for an ice rink, two bands had pulled out and the fire department backed out of operating the beer tent.